


Of Falling Leaves and Falling For Angels

by Attack_Of_The_Flying_Dekus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Breif mentions of Lou Ellen and Cecil, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 17:39:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7583635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Attack_Of_The_Flying_Dekus/pseuds/Attack_Of_The_Flying_Dekus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now, normally when someone knocked on his door in the middle of early morning cartoons, they’d be getting decked in the face. But when the person knocking had such a nice face, it was quite hard for Will to even be angry. Seriously, this guy was an <i>angel</i>. Maybe a fallen angel, but an angel nonetheless. His hair was jet black and slightly shaggy, and his eyes were a warm brown color, like hot chocolate. His skin was pale, but give him a month here and he'll have at least some color to him. He was extremely pretty, and Will thought he must not be from around here, because he would have remembered seeing a face this pretty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Falling Leaves and Falling For Angels

**Author's Note:**

> So. I've been reading some angst lately from an author I will not disclose the name of *Cough* MelChan1003! *Cough* and I needed a little bit of fluff. So, here is my treat to you and myself. Enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: Alright, so the title is now Of Falling Leaves and Falling for Angels. This one got more votes, and then people stopped commenting, so.... I changed it! :D
> 
> EDIT: 3/26/17  
> Now edited! c:

Will fumbled for the alarm clock that was screeching its not-so-heavenly song at 7:00 in the morning. It was a Saturday. A _Saturday_. Will groaned as he realized this fact halfway through pulling on a pair of jeans. 

“It’s a Saturday, stupid. Get back in bed.” Will told himself as he flumped back down onto the mattress, jeans half on. 

After another hour of sleep, he yawned and stretched his arms above his head. 

“Now you can get up.” And so he did. He slouched his way into the kitchen, kicking his jeans off on the way there, and turned on the ‘fancy shmancy coffee-maker’ Lou Ellen and Cecil had gotten him for Christmas. He didn’t know when or why they thought he needed a coffee-maker, but he wasn’t complaining; he had long hours between volunteering at the hospital and going through his pre-med class. He was often up at 5 in the morning working on a paper due in two weeks, and if he wasn’t working on class work, he was at the hospital volunteering. And if it wasn’t those two, it was a Saturday, and you’d better not even think of calling him or texting or anything. Will had made it widely known that Saturdays were his day to relax without anyone to bother him. 

The last time someone had come to bother him on a Saturday was Cecil, and he’d gotten smacked as soon as Will opened the door, and then got said door slammed into his face. When Cecil brought it up during the week at lunch, Will calmly told him he was not responsible for anything that he did on Saturdays. To this, Cecil spluttered some nonsense about insanity while Will calmly sipped his third cup of coffee that day. 

So anyways, Saturdays were Will’s days. So, you can imagine his surprise when in the middle of early morning cartoons, Will hears a knock on the door. _His_ door. Will groans as he gets up and stumbles to the door, holding in a yell when he bumps his hip into the side table next to the door.

He pulled open the door. “Cecil, I have told you, Saturdays are-- Oh. You are _not_ Cecil.” Will stops in surprise as a guy about his age shuffles uncomfortably on his door step. 

The guy smiles sheepishly. “Y-yeah, no. I’m not. I’m Nico. Nico di Angelo.” Nico awkwardly holds his hand out for Will to shake. Will does so. Will also notices the heavy accent surrounding his words.

Now, normally when someone knocks on his door in the middle of early morning cartoons, they’d be getting decked in the face. But when the person knocking had such a nice face, it was quite hard for Will to even be angry. Seriously, this guy was an _angel_. Maybe a fallen angel, but an angel nonetheless. His hair was jet black and slightly shaggy, and his eyes were a warm brown color, like hot chocolate. His skin was pale, but give him a month here and he'll have at least some color to him. He was extremely pretty, and Will thought he must be from Italy, because he would have remembered seeing a face this pretty.

“Well, hi Nico. I’m Will Solace. What brings you to my doorstep?” _At 8:30 in the morning_ , he wants to add, but he feels that would make the already uncomfortable guy even more uncomfortable.

“I-I just moved in next door from Italy, and my sister Hazel wanted me to meet some new people.” Nico shifts to his other foot. “I figured my next door neighbor was as good a place to start.” Nico smiles sheepishly once again.

Will blinks owlishly at him. “D-did you want to come in? I have coffee.“ Will offers, not even knowing where the offer was coming from. _Probably your pants, douche._ He could practically hear Lou Ellen snickering at him. _Shut up_ He tells her. 

Nico laughs. _Holy God, I'm so gay._ “No no, I’m fine. Not much for coffee. But it was nice meeting you, Will.” Nico nods at him, still smiling. Then he turns to walk away, then seems to remember something. “Oh, and ah, for future reference, you may want to put on some clothes before you answer the door. Just a thought.” Nico smirks and glances at Will’s boxers. As Will realizes what he was wearing, he blushes and begins sputtering apologies. Nico just laughs again.

“Its fine! You were obviously not expecting anyone at 8:30 in the morning. Have a nice day!” Nico waves and puts his hands in his pockets, leisurely walking back to his house.

Will stands at the door, watching Nico enter his house and shut the door. Then he shuts his own door and runs his hands throught his hair. _Shit._

* * *

It was a while before Will talked to Nico again, aside from simple hey’s whenever he saw him in the grocery store, or walking to his car. 

Oddly enough, the next time they did talk to each other was about tea. Will had seen something online that chamomile was a good stress-reducer, and he’d quite literally bumped into Nico while in the aisle. He’d been slowly moving down the aisle, looking for the chamomile tea that didn’t seem to be any where, and he’d bumped into his neighbor of a month, knocking a couple cartons of tea out of his arms. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t… Hey! It’s been a little while, hasn’t it?” Will smiled at him, then moved to pick up the cartons he dropped. He notices the label and taps it, showing it to the raven-haired man. “Hey, uh… Do you think you could tell me where this stuff is? I’ve been looking everywhere for it.” 

Nico smiled then nodded. “I found it down there.” He pointed to the other end of the aisle, near the bottom. 

Will searched for the tea, then finally held up two cartons of chamomile in victory. “You are amazing. This stuff has been like, my savior.” Will dropped the boxes unceremoniously into the buggy, amongst the ramen and TV dinners he’d also dropped in there.

“Sì, I find it quite relaxing.” Nico smiled again. Now that Will wasn’t searching for what had become his drug the past few days, he had the time to appreciate how Nico’s lips curled around his words, and his smile. _His smile is quite nice..._

“W-Will? Why are you looking at me like that?” Will glanced up to find Nico blushing lightly, though still smiling, and he quickly looked away, his own cheeks beginning to color. 

“Ah, n-no reason. Anyways, thank you for helping me. I’m just… Gonna go now.” Will hurried away from the aisle, cheeks blazing. _That was extremely awkward, and it’s all your fault._ Will practically ran to the check out counter, and then he _did_ run to his car. He threw all his stuff in the back seat, then sat in the drivers seat, and proceeded to lay his head on the horn, startling himself and an old lady sitting in the car in front of him. He decided that today was just not his day, and drove back home to cover himself in blankets for the rest of the afternoon. 

* * *

Will kept to himself for the most part after the ‘Grocery store incident of ‘16’, as he had dubbed it. And then, one Saturday, he decided to actually do something with himself. It was a nice day outside, and all the leaves had fallen in beautiful flurries, and he’d always meant to go to the park near his house. He pulled on his NYU parka and his old beat up sneakers, then walked outside into the chilled air. As he walked down the sidewalk heading to the park, he glanced at Nico’s yard, littered with the colorful oranges and reds of the fallen leaves from the giant oak tree in the yard. He noticed the owner of the yard surveying the beautiful mess with a rake in his hand. 

Will waved at him, ignoring his rule of leaving Nico alone from now on. Nico smiled and waved back, then went back to staring at the leaves. 

_Maybe he doesn’t like leaves._ Will shrugged it off and continued his walk towards the park peacefully. 

On his way back, he noticed the cleanliness of Nico’s yard, and the giant pile of leaves nestled near the sidewalk. For a moment, Will thinks Nico is inside, washing up or resting. Then he notices the dark mop of hair on the other side of the pile. Nico doesn’t notice Will walking on the sidewalk, then stopping to watch what’s going to happen. His eyes are closed, peacefully it seems, his arms held out. Then, without warning, he tips back.

He falls into the pile of leaves, then throws his arms up, throwing leaves into the air. A light, bubbly laugh comes from Nico, and Will can’t help but grin. _Or maybe he loves leaves._

Suddenly, the noises of crinkling leaves stop, and Will is staring at Nico, who is staring at him. He looks taken by surprise, as if he’d forgotten Will had decided to walk today. He probably had; it wasn’t often that Will decided to be active. 

“Hi.” Will gives a small wave, smiling sheepishly. Nico’s eyes widen, and he scrambles up and stumbles to his front door, pulling it open and shutting it quickly. Will puts his hand down and frowns. 

He sighs and walks dejectedly back to his house, not noticing the pale face peeking through the dark curtains of his neighbors house. 

* * *

The next day, Will noticed his neighbor hadn’t stepped out of his house once. Not even to water the flowers he’d put out a week ago, which he could see were slightly wilted. 

Will sighed. _Don’t you do it, William. Don’t even think about it._ Of course, Will ignored his conscience, as usual, and got the watering can he’d had for forever out of his shed, and the used his hose to fill it with water. _Stop. Please stop. He’s gonna call the cops on you for trespassing. STOP._ Will ignored his inner monologue once again as he walked to his neighbor’s flowers and began watering them, being sure to check the tags to make sure he wasn’t over or under watering them. Eventually, he heard the door open and he looked up to find Nico leaning over his porch to watch him. 

“What are you doing to my lilies?” Nico asked, his face expressionless. Will held up the watering can.

“They were looking wilted, so I came over to water them.” Will continued watering the plants, making sure to water the hydrangeas the most. “They’re too pretty to let them wilt.” 

Nico seems to consider this. “That’s very… Thoughtful of you.” 

Will clears his throat. “So, um… Why did you run away? Yesterday, I mean.” Will kept his eyes on the flowers in front of him as he asked the question. 

Nico scoffs. “I was embarrassed! Isn’t that why you ran from the grocery store that day?” 

Will flushed. “F-fair point. But jumping into a pile of leaves isn’t that embarrassing.” 

“It is to me. We didn’t have very many trees in Venice. Our city was mostly on water, and the parts that weren’t on the water had more buildings and homes than plants.” Will remembered, not for the first time since he’d met Nico, that yes, he’d come from Italy. 

“Oh. I didn’t know that.” Will looked up at him. Nico seemed almost wistful, thinking about his old home. “Do you ever get homesick?” 

“Not homesick, necessarily. It’s more… Personsick. My sister… My sister Bianca died when I was younger. She fell from the second story of our house into the canal next to it. She broke her neck and drowned.” Nico was obviously having trouble telling him this story. He was gripping the banister on his porch so tightly, his knuckles were white. 

“Nico, you don’t have to tell me.” Nico waved him off before he even finished his sentence.

“It’s fine. Hazel says it helps to talk about these things.” Nico breathes in deeply, then lets it out. “I’m fine.” 

Watering can forgotten, Will went to go sit on Nico’s porch. Nico sat next to him. 

“So… Not many trees, huh? That must suck.” Will bumped his shoulder with Nico’s, making Nico give a small smile.

“Not really. There’s just less color. Yesterday I saw all the colors, and I just… I couldn’t help myself. I’ve only ever seen that many colors in paintings.” Nico’s tone had gone from stiff and unrelenting to soft and wistful. Will chuckled and rose from his seat, grabbing the rake from where it was abandoned next to the equally abandoned pile of leaves. “What are you doing?” Nico asked curiously from the porch.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t mind me.” Will smiled as he raked up the leaves that had strayed from the pile and pushed them back in, then propped the rake against the tree next to the pile. Will went back over to Nico, holding out a hand to help him up. Nico took it, then Will guided him to the pile of leaves. He stood next to him, still holding his hand, and turned around so they were facing away from the pile of leaves. 

Will closed his eyes, and then tipped back, falling. He took Nico with him as well, who let out a small squeak as he landed in the leaves. Will laughed at him, then threw a flurry of leaves at him. Nico retaliated by picking up a bunch and practically burying Will with them. Will simply burrowed deeper into the leaves and ignored Nico’s cries of “That’s not fair!” 

Will moved to grab Nico’s waist and pull him in with him, as he was still on top on the leaves. Unfortunately, Nico moved, and he ended up on top of Will, looking down at his face as the leaves settled around them. Neither of them dared to move. Nico stared down at Will’s slowly reddening face, and Will stared back, watching as Nico’s cheeks colored a nice pink. 

Will’s hands had moved to rest on Nico’s slim hips, and they now dug in, as if to anchor him there. The feel of his weight against him was… enjoyable. Quite enjoyable, actually. Which was why Nico needed to move, because if he stayed there any longer, he was going to do something that he wouldn’t exactly regret, but something that needed to be done at a different time and a different place. 

So, Nico slipped off of Will, settling himself back into the leaves. 

Will cleared his throat after a long moment of silence. “So um… Do you want to go out sometime? I know you’re not much for coffee, but there’s this new sandwich place if you want to check it out. With… Me. Y-you don’t have to if you don’t want to--” Will was cut off with a light laugh.

“Of course. It’s a date.” Nico looked over at him and smiled, making Will’s heart go _Bu-bump bu-bump_ just a little faster. 

“Y-yeah.” Something told him that the leaves weren’t the only things falling this autumn. He was too, and for an angel at that. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fluff!


End file.
